which arrived at the port of London from the United States, during the first six months of 1845, together with the tariff and custom laws of the United States, and other statistical or historical statements, concerning life, fire, and marine insurances, light-house establishments, currency, and banking institutions, the finances of the United States, and the debts and finances of the respective States. Finally, we have the statistics of Texas, the treaties of commerce between the United States and foreign States, and a certain space is devoted to a consideration of the commercial legislation of England and America. We have given this condensed account of the volume of Mr. Macgregor, which is very satisfactorily executed, exhibiting all the facts connected with our domestic products, trade, and commerce, the whole being fortified by historical statements and condensed statistical tables. In thus so ably accomplishing his task, he has reflected honor upon himself, and at the same time has made a most valuable present to the British government. Our own country peculiarly required such a work, at the present time. Its productive resources are rapidly expanding, and its internal trade and navigation are burdening the rivers and lakes and roads of the various parts of the territory. The foreign commerce is ploughing the waves of almost every sea and ocean, and its material interests are advancing with rapid progress. The recent census which has been taken under the sanction of the government-supposing it to be accurate-embraces only a part of that which bears upon the various departments of commercial enterprise. It may be truly said that the present volume has embodied very much that is required to be known, respecting the commerce and actual condition of the country; and we fully concur in the remark which has been made, in a notice of the work in a recent number of the Edinburgh Review, that "the Lords of Trade have displayed a judicious libe. rality, in promoting this very useful and instructive undertaking." Art. VI. THE SOUTHWESTERN CONVENTION, AT MEMPHIS: WITH REFERENCE TO THE COMMERCE, MANUFACTURES, INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS, AND RESOURCES OF THE SOUTH AND SOUthwest. It may be remembered, that during the month of November, 1845, a convention was held in the city of Memphis, and State of Tennessee, for the purpose of adopting measures calculated to advance the development of the resources of the Western and Southwestern States. A distinguished senator from the State of South Carolina, Mr. Calhoun, presided over the deliberations of that body, and delivered the introductory address, upon entering upon the duties of the office to which he had been elected. In the course of that address, he divided the region embraced by the Western and Southwestern States into three parts; the first comprising the valley of the Mississippi, bounded by the Rocky and the Alleghany mountains; the second, that portion which stretches east from the mouth of the Mis. sissippi river along the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic ocean, as far as cotton, tobacco, and rice are cultivated; and the third, stretching from the Mississippi westward along the Gulf of Mexico to the Mexican line. This tract of territory embraces the great agricultural district of the Union. Producing at the present time all the leading articles of food and raiment for its own subsistence, and for that of other parts of the United States, and tobacco, lead, tar and turpentine, far beyond its own wants, to which will be soon added the articles of hemp, wool, and sugar, it spreads out a broad field of enterprise. The mode of developing the resources of the west and southwest most effectually, according to Mr. Calhoun, is to secure an adequate price for what might be produced; and, in order thus to extend the market, it is deemed proper to facilitate the transportation of persons and merchandise between its various parts, with other portions of the Union, as well as abroad. The facilities for transportation could be most effectually accomplished, by the improvement of its internal navigation, and by opening a communication through the coasting trade between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic ocean. In order to guard against the event of the interruption, in case of war, of this great thoroughfare, it was proposed, by the same gentleman, to establish, at Pensacola, or some other place on the Gulf, a naval station of the first class, with all the means of building and repairing vessels of war, and that a portion of our navy be here permanently attached; and also to fortify the Tortugases, which lie midway between the Florida point and Cuba, and command the passes between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic coast. It was also proposed by him to add a naval force of steamers, or other vessels, to guard the coast, and ef fectually to keep open the bar at the Balize at all times. Another mode of promoting a safe, cheap, and speedy intercourse between the valley of the Mississippi and the Atlantic coast, in the judgment of the South Carolina senator, was a good system of railroads; and be. sides the improvement of the navigation of the Mississippi and its tributaries, and the construction of the railroad between the Mississippi and the Atlantic, it was alleged by Mr. Calhoun, that the construction of a canal uniting the northwestern lakes with the Mississippi, should be promoted. The prosperity of the southwest could also be advanced by leveeing the lands which comprehended a large and valuable portion of the whole region. The question how far the aid of the general government could be properly invoked for the accomplishment of these works was then dis. cussed, Mr. Calhoun contending that such aid should be confined to those objects which were strictly national, and which could not be effected through the agency of individuals or States. He maintained, however, that the system of railroads might be aided by the government, by the grant of the public lands through which they passed, and by repealing the duty upon T railroad iron. These were some of the principal objects proposed by the convention, as stated by the president of that body. There were likewise numerous resolutions passed, or reports made, respecting the establishment of light-houses and beacons, a national armory and foundry upon the western waters, marine hospitals upon the western and southern waters, the establishment of the warehousing system, the improvement of the mail service of the west and south, the propriety of granting the right of way and alternate sections of land by government in aid of public works, the construction of dry docks, roads, military posts upon the frontier, and the prompt extension by the govern ment of the magnetic telegraph through the valley of the Mississippi. The valley of the Mississippi occupies an area of about one million five hundred thousand square miles, and produces not only the ordinary pro. ducts of the Northern States, but those staple articles of export, consist ing of cotton, rice, sugar, hemp, and tobacco. Its population is estimated The domestic exports by the lakes may be set down at... Total...... 35,000,000 10,000,000 .$84,348,929 It appears, also, from statistical tables which have been prepared at New Orleans, that from the 1st of September, 1844, to the 31st of August, 1845, the receipts of the principal staples from the interior amounted to the sum of fifty-seven millions one hundred and ninety-seven thousand one hundred and twenty-two dollars. There are large imports made on account of the trade with New Mexico, as well as the fur trade with the Indians, and army and Indian supplies. Upon the supposition that an equal amount of exports was made through the lakes, we have an aggregate value of one hundred and fourteen millions three hundred and ninetyeight thousand two hundred and forty-four dollars; and, according to a statement before us, the commerce of the valley amounts to the aggregate sum of between two hundred and fifty and three hundred millions of dollars. The extent of this commerce may be adjudged from the fact that there are about twelve or fifteen hundred vessels employed in its prosecution, exclusive of keelboats, barges, and flatboats. There are more than four hundred vessels plying upon the lakes, including steamers, ships, and brigs, and on the waters of the Mississippi, there were, in 1843, six hundred and seventy-two steamboats; while it appears by a report which is also now before us, that there are at present employed in the navigation of the riv. ers of the valley of the Mississippi, more than seventeen hundred boatmen, exclusive of the flat and keelboat-men, which would swell the number to about three thousand four hundred. It is estimated that there are six hundred flatboats upon the western waters. There are also fifty-six steamboats upon the lakes, and nineteen steam propellers, which were constructed at the cost of about three millions of dollars; and the extent of the lake coast furnishes a channel for the transportation of the products of the industry of a population amounting to about three millions. The subjoined amount of steamboat tonnage was enrolled and licensed at the respective districts, according to the report of the Secretary of the Treasury for 1844 : -- The improvement of the navigation of the western waters by the general government, is a subject which has often been brought before the cognizance of Congress, and has received the favorable attention of that body. In the "ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States, northwest of the river Ohio," it is declared that "the navigable waters leading into the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence, and the carrying places between the same, shall be common highways, and forever free, as well to the inhabitants of said territory, as to the citizens of the United States, and those of any other states that may be admitted into the Confederacy, without any tax, duty, or impost, therefor." The principal rivers of that portion of the country are obstructed to a greater or less extent, by "snags, sawyers, sunken logs and stumps," and the business of improving them is entrusted to the topographical bureau at Washington, and to topographical officers as superintendents of the work. There are, doubtless, annually occurring severe losses, arising from the wrecking of boats upon the western waters-losses which devolve upon individuals as well as insurance companies; and, from the increasing amount of commerce which is prosecuted upon the western waters, they are liable every year to be augmented. If the removal of those obstacles upon these rivers is to be undertaken at all by the general government, we think that the work should be vigorously prosecuted, although it is a labor which will, doubtless, require years for its successful accomplishment. Considerable progress has been already made in the improvement of the river and lake navigation and defences of the West, and we trust that it may be rapidly advanced. Connected with the objects of the convention, a report was also made upon the agriculture of the South. It was alleged in this report, that the planters of that part of the country, were in somewhat a depressed condition, in consequence of the over-production of their great staple, the cotton plant. It maintains that a general disposition had been manifested on the part of those planters, to embark their capital and enterprise in the production of this staple, to the too general neglect of other species of cultivation. The extraordinary state of facts was accordingly presented, that they had by their policy overstocked the markets of the world with cotton, and had thus diminished its price, while they had purchased their supplies of meat and bread from abroad. The mode of remedying this surplus of production, as recommended in the report, is to diminish the amount of the cotton crop, so as not to exceed the demand, and thus exercise the power of regulating the price. It was also recommended that if the crop was thus to be reduced, some other direction should be given to the surplus capital and industry of that part of the Union, and that those might be properly invested in manufactures. The extension of manufac turing establishments through the South, it was maintained, would not only diminish the foreign market for cotton, by promoting its domestic consumption, but that it would advance the interests of southern mechanics, and promote the exchange of the raw material of the cotton-growing states, for its own fabrics, at a low price. It was accordingly proposed in the report for the southern planters to form a compact, agreeing upon some definite ratio for the annual diminution of the cotton crop, for a term of years, until they should be relieved from their embarrassments by a satisfactory demand for their great staple. It was also proposed to apply the capital and labor thus diverted from the production of cotton, to the extension of manufacturing establishments, and that they should encourage every new market for the consumption of the raw material. The production of an abundance of provisions, and every species of grain and stock, was likewise recommended for the use of the plantations, and the substitution of the "comfort" for the woollen blanket, as an article of economy, upon the ground that it is more appropriate to the use of the negroes. It was finally resolved that the more frequent formation of agricultural societies in the Southern States, together with a more liberal patronage of agricultural periodicals, on the part of planters, would tend to advance the agricultural interest, and effectually promote the prosperity of the South. We have presented this brief view of the resources and commerce of the South and West, because they constitute a most prominent field of American enterprise. They must yield a vast surplus of products, to seek its markets either in our own country or abroad. With the rapid increase of the population by domestic and foreign immigration, and the advance of its agricultural and commercial enterprise, with their great staples of export, they now exercise a most important influence both upon foreign and domestic trade. In fact, the Mississippi valley alone contains the greater portion of the population of the nation; and while cities and villages are rapidly springing up along the shores of its lakes and rivers, as well as in every part of the interior, extensive colonies of emigrants are scattering themselves through the plains of Oregon and Texas, thus further extending the field of wealth, industry and commerce. Art. VII.-APPLICATION OF STEAM TO THE PADDLE-WHEEL AND PROPELLER. TO THE EDITOR OF THE MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW : ALTHOUGH it has generally been admitted that John Fitch was the first -certainly in this country-who successfully applied steam to propel boats, yet the honor of inventing side-wheels with buckets, has been attributed to Robert Fulton; in fact, all the honors of an original inventor have been heaped on Fulton, while poor Fitch was left to die in poverty, viewed as a madman, by the savans of New York and Philadelphia, headed, in the latter place, even by Doctor Franklin, who, it is said, demonstrated, to his own satisfaction, that there was as much resistance, to get the paddle out of the water, as there was force acquired by its entrance into, and hold on the water. On a former occasion I had the pleasure to vindicate the claim of the late Colonel John Stevens, of Hoboken, N. J., as the first in this country, and I believe in Europe, who successfully applied steam to propel wheel carriages on iron rails, by the adhesion of the locomotive invented by him in the year 1812. At length, a living witness has come forward, in the person of John Hutchins, of Williamsburg, (L. I.) New York, to prove, by a map of the Collect Pond, in the city of New York, and drawings of the ong-boat used in the same in 1796-7, that Fitch was the original inven. · · |